Ginx said: “There's no reason for him [Jesus] to have been dead after such a short time,”
He was saying that, because they didn’t break Jesus legs while He hung on the cross, He probably didn’t die; that in fact He was nursed back to health.
The verse which Ginx partially quotes is John 19:33. Ginx partially quotes that verse because if he used the whole verse it would be obvious that the REASON the guards didn’t break Jesus legs is because Jesus was already dead. He'd been run through with a spear and serum and red blood cells gushed out from the chest cavity. No one need doubt the death of Jesus - I mean, other than atheist and Islamic fundamentalists whose very belief system depends on Jesus NOT dying on the cross and NOT rising from the dead
The historical facts of Jesus life, death and resurrection, facts that require an answer are:
. The tomb was empty - why?
. The dramatic change in the character of the disciples - why?
. The conversions of the sceptic James (Jesus’ own brother) - why?
. The conversion of the sceptic Paul (a persecutor of Christians)- why?
. The dramatic rise of the Christian Church - why?
All of these CAN be answered with one point - The death and physical resurrection of Jesus.
I find it hard to believe that anyone can be so ignorant as to believe that Jesus came down from the cross alive. However, yet another atheist has made this claim in His defense of the proposition that the reason the tomb was empty is because, well, Jesus really wasn’t dead. Have you ever noticed how often atheists and Muslims agree on things? It’s a little unnerving. Anyhow, when I say Jesus most certainly was dead, atheists say, “Where the evidence?” When I give them evidence, do you know what happens? The evidence is so overwhelmingly in favour of Jesus dying that atheists change the subject to some song and dance about how gruesome the evidence is and "Why revel in "bloody porn"." Atheists, if you've heard one you've heard them all.
Drawing from eyewitness accounts, and from what we know of Roman execution, and the Jewish / Roman interaction, Physician Truman Davis writes the following about Jesus’ death:
The whip the Roman soldiers use on Jesus has small iron balls and sharp pieces of sheep bones tied to it. Jesus is stripped of his clothing, and his hands are tied to an upright post. His back, buttocks, and legs are whipped either by one soldier or by two who alternate positions. The soldiers taunt their victim. As they repeatedly strike Jesus’ back with full force, the iron balls cause deep contusions, and the sheep bones cut into the skin and tissues. As the whipping continues, the lacerations tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh. Most often the victim's bowels were laid bare. Pain and blood loss set the stage for circulatory shock.
When it is determined by the centurion in charge that Jesus is near death, the beating is finally stopped. The half-fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with his own blood. The Roman soldiers see a great joke in this provincial Jew claiming to be a king. They throw a robe across his shoulders and place a stick in his hand for a scepter. They still need a crown to make their travesty complete. A small bundle of flexible branches covered with long thorns are plaited into the shape of a crown, and this is pressed into his scalp. Again there is copious bleeding (the scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body). After mocking him and striking him across the face until he is unrecognisable to those who know him, the soldiers take the stick from his hand and strike him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into his scalp.
Finally, when they tire of their sadistic sport, the robe is torn from his back. The robe had already become adherent to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal - just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage - causes excruciating pain, is almost as though he were being whipped again. The wounds again begin to bleed. In deference to Jewish custom, the Romans return his garments. The heavy horizontal beam of the cross is tied across his shoulders, and the procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution party walk along the Via Dolorosa. In spite of his efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He stumbles and falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed beyond their endurance. The centurion, anxious to get on with the crucifixion, select a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus follows, still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock.
The 650 yard journey from the fortress Antonia to Golgotha is finally complete. Jesus is again stripped of his clothes. The crucifixion begins. Jesus is offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild pain-killing mixture. He refuses to drink. Simon is ordered to place the cross beam on the ground, and Jesus is quickly thrown backward with his shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, the soldier moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tight, but to allow some flexibility and movement. The beam is then lifted, and the title reading “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” is nailed in place.
The victim Jesus is now crucified. As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain - the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. The severing of the median nerve by the nails would produce the degree of pain as if someone grabbed, with pliers, the same nerve embedded in your elbow joint and squeezed it and twisted it for hours on end. As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places his full weight on the nail through his feet. Again, there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet. At this point, another phenomenon occurs. As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. It was not uncommon for the shoulders to be pulled out of their sockets by the weight of the person’s body. The muscles would then be stretched two to three inches from their normal length. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward. Hanging by his arms, the pectoral muscles are paralysed, and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs but it cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the bloodstream, and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen.
Now begin hours of this limitless pain, cycles of cramping and twisting partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins. A deep, crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over - the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, sluggish blood into the tissues; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain. His mission of atonement has been complete. Finally he can allow his body to die. With one last surge of strength, he once again presses his torn feet against the nail, straightens his legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters his final words.
When the chief executioner comes to ensure death has taken place, the spear's thrust releases the blood that is now separated into serum and platelets - Jesus was dead. This appears to the eyewitness who wrote this account as water and blood. Jesus was in fact, dead when they laid Him in the tomb.
I happen to believe that Jesus gave up His life. "No one takes My life from Me. I lay it down and I take it back up again." Yes, Jesus suffered and died. Yes, He endured agony beyond anything most of us will ever experience. What Jesus dead? Without a doubt. Did He die exclusively from crucifixion? I don't think so. I think that the Creator of life gave up His life on a voluntary basis. Three days later (as Jews of the time counted time) Jesus took back His life.
Ginx is just the latest in a long, long line of atheists making the ridiculous claim that when Jesus was taken from the cross, He was still alive. Well, if you’ve heard one atheist, you’ve heard them all.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Can You Forgive?
"Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.” Matthew 5:7
I’ve worked with sooo many people who are being consumed by anger, bitterness and rage. Oh, they’ve been hurt. No doubt about that. They’ve been betrayed and abused. I get that.
But to what end is their rage.
There’s a verse in Galatians, chapter 5 I think, “If you keep on biting and devouring each other watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
“But it’s not fair!” is what I usually hear.
I know. I know that it isn’t fair. Some of the people who’ve done wrong to you may never be held accountable. Certainly not in atheist world. On the other hand, neither is it fair that God forgives us. His grace gives us what we don’t deserve and His mercy makes sure that we don’t get what we do deserve.
“When you show mercy to others, mercy to will be shown to you.”
Isn’t that amazing? When we give to others what we have freely received, God’s mercy flows freely and in abundance to us. Life is good.
Laying down our judgement of others as God has layed down His judgement of us is a wonderful gift to the world; a world so full of hatred and bitterness.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May He lift up the light ouf His countenance upon you
And give you peace.
I’ve worked with sooo many people who are being consumed by anger, bitterness and rage. Oh, they’ve been hurt. No doubt about that. They’ve been betrayed and abused. I get that.
But to what end is their rage.
There’s a verse in Galatians, chapter 5 I think, “If you keep on biting and devouring each other watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
“But it’s not fair!” is what I usually hear.
I know. I know that it isn’t fair. Some of the people who’ve done wrong to you may never be held accountable. Certainly not in atheist world. On the other hand, neither is it fair that God forgives us. His grace gives us what we don’t deserve and His mercy makes sure that we don’t get what we do deserve.
“When you show mercy to others, mercy to will be shown to you.”
Isn’t that amazing? When we give to others what we have freely received, God’s mercy flows freely and in abundance to us. Life is good.
Laying down our judgement of others as God has layed down His judgement of us is a wonderful gift to the world; a world so full of hatred and bitterness.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May He lift up the light ouf His countenance upon you
And give you peace.
Irony of the Day
"Pakistan's foreign Ministry spokesperson - 'Anyone who describes Islam as an intolerant religion encourages violence.'"
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/01/02/denmark.cartoonist/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/01/02/denmark.cartoonist/index.html
Friday, January 1, 2010
R U Dumb Enough?
I don’t know if anyone has been following the utterly dismal atheist attempt by Gorth and his comrades to disprove the Bible by using literal interpretation where metaphor or poetry or symbolism is so very obvious to any sane and rational individual. To prove that the Bible teaches a flat earth, I was referred by Gorth to this site.
http://www.answering-christianity.com/earth_flat.htm
I’ve long said that atheist and Islamic fundamentalists are very, very similar in the manner in which they process information and interpret observations. They are also similar in their bigotry and manipulation of information for their own ends. This charge of what the Bible teaches by both atheists and the ludicrous Islamic website leads me to ask:
R U dumb enough to be an atheist? Take the test below and find out.
Atheists are saying that, “the Bible teaches that the earth is flat.”
This accusation is based upon verses like, “. . . gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” Isaiah 11:12
Does this mean that the earth literally has “four corners”? Or does it mean the same as today when people say, “I’d search to the ends of the earth for my son,” or “Police have searched to the far corners of the earth and she’s simply disappeared”?
Are the atheists and their Islamic cohorts correct?
============
Atheists are saying that, “The Bible teaches that the earth stands still.”
This accusation is based upon verses like, “The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.” Ecclesiastes 1:5
Does this mean that the earth literally stands still and the sun revolves around it? Or does it mean the same as today when people say, “Day after day I work from sunrise to sunset. Around and around it goes and it never seems to end.” Or, "Sunrise tomorrow is at 7:15."
Are the atheists and their Islamic cohort correct?
=============
Atheist are saying that, “The Bible teaches that the earth is set upon pillars.”
This accusation is based upon verses like, “Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand.” Job 38:4
Does this mean that the earth is literally set upon pillars? Or does it mean the same as today when people say, “Our understanding of science is built upon the very firm foundation of the laws of physics.”?
Are the atheists and their Islamic cohorts correct?
==============
Atheists are saying that, “The Bible teaches that the earth has edges.”
This accusation is based upon verses like, “. . .that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?” Job 38:13
Does this mean that the earth literally has edges? Is there any reason to think that this is any but metaphor? Have you ever met anyone who tries to “read” the Bible to the absurd literal levels that atheist and Islamic fundamentalists do?
Are the atheists and their Islamic cohort correct?
============
Here we have atheist and Islamic fundamentalists claiming to be educated and intelligent, yet, who are either not able to know, or who are pretending to not know the difference between symbolic and literal phrases in the Bible. These "gifted geniuses" either pretend to not be able or are in fact NOT capable of differentiating between metaphor, irony, or hyperbole.
Really, if atheists can’t say, this is where a poem ends and a moral directive begins, if they can’t understand that a political diatribe can’t be mixed with romantic literature, and, as is the case with the most fundamentalist of them all, Richard Dawkins, if finding these variations in genre within the same book comes off as disjointed and difficult to understand for them, then perhaps atheists should simply stick to Saturday night meet-ups in bars and leave the Bible completely alone.
On the other hand:
1) In the Bible, we have a Book that diagnoses the atheist problem clearly and concisely -
“No one is without excuse. The universe declares the existence of God.”
To date, nothing has been able to refute or falsify that claim.
2) The Bible tells us -
“What is visible is made from what is not visible”
- This 1,500 years before the microscope was invented.
3) The Bible tells us -
“God sits enthroned above the CIRCLE of the earth . . .”
- This thousands of years before people accepted that the earth wasn’t flat.
4) The Bible tells us -
“The earth will wear out like and old garment, There will be famines in many lands and war without ceasing,”
- this 2,000 years before anyone dreamed that the earth could run short of anything.
5) The Bible tells us -“The Lord suspends the earth over nothing.”
- This, 5,000 years before modern man confirmed its truth.
6) The Bible tells us -
“The number of the stars are like the sand which is on the seashore.”
- This, thousands and thousands of years before the telescope. Without the telescope only ~ 5,000 stars are visible to the naked eye. To say they were uncountable would have seemed preposterous. Yet it’s the truth.
This post is already getting long so I’ll stop but the question remains.
R U Dumb enough to be an atheist?
http://www.answering-christianity.com/earth_flat.htm
I’ve long said that atheist and Islamic fundamentalists are very, very similar in the manner in which they process information and interpret observations. They are also similar in their bigotry and manipulation of information for their own ends. This charge of what the Bible teaches by both atheists and the ludicrous Islamic website leads me to ask:
R U dumb enough to be an atheist? Take the test below and find out.
Atheists are saying that, “the Bible teaches that the earth is flat.”
This accusation is based upon verses like, “. . . gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” Isaiah 11:12
Does this mean that the earth literally has “four corners”? Or does it mean the same as today when people say, “I’d search to the ends of the earth for my son,” or “Police have searched to the far corners of the earth and she’s simply disappeared”?
Are the atheists and their Islamic cohorts correct?
============
Atheists are saying that, “The Bible teaches that the earth stands still.”
This accusation is based upon verses like, “The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.” Ecclesiastes 1:5
Does this mean that the earth literally stands still and the sun revolves around it? Or does it mean the same as today when people say, “Day after day I work from sunrise to sunset. Around and around it goes and it never seems to end.” Or, "Sunrise tomorrow is at 7:15."
Are the atheists and their Islamic cohort correct?
=============
Atheist are saying that, “The Bible teaches that the earth is set upon pillars.”
This accusation is based upon verses like, “Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand.” Job 38:4
Does this mean that the earth is literally set upon pillars? Or does it mean the same as today when people say, “Our understanding of science is built upon the very firm foundation of the laws of physics.”?
Are the atheists and their Islamic cohorts correct?
==============
Atheists are saying that, “The Bible teaches that the earth has edges.”
This accusation is based upon verses like, “. . .that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?” Job 38:13
Does this mean that the earth literally has edges? Is there any reason to think that this is any but metaphor? Have you ever met anyone who tries to “read” the Bible to the absurd literal levels that atheist and Islamic fundamentalists do?
Are the atheists and their Islamic cohort correct?
============
Here we have atheist and Islamic fundamentalists claiming to be educated and intelligent, yet, who are either not able to know, or who are pretending to not know the difference between symbolic and literal phrases in the Bible. These "gifted geniuses" either pretend to not be able or are in fact NOT capable of differentiating between metaphor, irony, or hyperbole.
Really, if atheists can’t say, this is where a poem ends and a moral directive begins, if they can’t understand that a political diatribe can’t be mixed with romantic literature, and, as is the case with the most fundamentalist of them all, Richard Dawkins, if finding these variations in genre within the same book comes off as disjointed and difficult to understand for them, then perhaps atheists should simply stick to Saturday night meet-ups in bars and leave the Bible completely alone.
On the other hand:
1) In the Bible, we have a Book that diagnoses the atheist problem clearly and concisely -
“No one is without excuse. The universe declares the existence of God.”
To date, nothing has been able to refute or falsify that claim.
2) The Bible tells us -
“What is visible is made from what is not visible”
- This 1,500 years before the microscope was invented.
3) The Bible tells us -
“God sits enthroned above the CIRCLE of the earth . . .”
- This thousands of years before people accepted that the earth wasn’t flat.
4) The Bible tells us -
“The earth will wear out like and old garment, There will be famines in many lands and war without ceasing,”
- this 2,000 years before anyone dreamed that the earth could run short of anything.
5) The Bible tells us -“The Lord suspends the earth over nothing.”
- This, 5,000 years before modern man confirmed its truth.
6) The Bible tells us -
“The number of the stars are like the sand which is on the seashore.”
- This, thousands and thousands of years before the telescope. Without the telescope only ~ 5,000 stars are visible to the naked eye. To say they were uncountable would have seemed preposterous. Yet it’s the truth.
This post is already getting long so I’ll stop but the question remains.
R U Dumb enough to be an atheist?
We’re Weird That Way
A group of Santeria worshipers in Philadelphia might be in legal trouble for not “sacrificing animals humanely.”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/30/pennsylvania.animal.remains/index.html
It’s ok in the United States to practice a religion whereby you offer animal sacrifices on an alter but don’t you dare eat horse meat. That is illegal.
We’re weird that way.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/30/pennsylvania.animal.remains/index.html
It’s ok in the United States to practice a religion whereby you offer animal sacrifices on an alter but don’t you dare eat horse meat. That is illegal.
We’re weird that way.
Follow the Logic
On virtually every atheist blog that I read, I was astonished by comments that seemed completely irrational to me, while seeming completely satisfactory to those who wrote them.
For example, atheist physicist Victor Stenger states, “So where did the laws of physics come from? They came from nothing.”
That is the logic and reason of atheism. As far as I can tell, Stenger has not been sanctioned or rebuked by any fellow atheists for making such an incoherent statement. In fact, making claims that go against the same scientific principles they hold dear, seems to be allowable as long as those statements muddy the thinking regarding the possibility of Creator God existing. Here are some more statements that, when compared to how scientists say they operate, well, it’s puzzling that they would allow themselves to work in this manner.
Smithsonian paleobiologist, Douglas Erwin, “One of the rules of science is, no miracles allowed. That’s a fundamental presumption of what we do” (bold mine).
Biologist Barry Palevitz, “The supernatural is automatically off-limits as an explanation of the natural world” (bold mine).
Astronomer and physicist Lee Smolin, If the universe started at a point in time, “This leaves the door open for a return of religion. The theory is to be criticized as being unlikely on these grounds”
How in the world can a scientist, someone who says that s/he is dedicated to following the evidence where ever it leads, leave out a whole category of evidence just because it goes against h/her world view?
For example, atheist physicist Victor Stenger states, “So where did the laws of physics come from? They came from nothing.”
That is the logic and reason of atheism. As far as I can tell, Stenger has not been sanctioned or rebuked by any fellow atheists for making such an incoherent statement. In fact, making claims that go against the same scientific principles they hold dear, seems to be allowable as long as those statements muddy the thinking regarding the possibility of Creator God existing. Here are some more statements that, when compared to how scientists say they operate, well, it’s puzzling that they would allow themselves to work in this manner.
Smithsonian paleobiologist, Douglas Erwin, “One of the rules of science is, no miracles allowed. That’s a fundamental presumption of what we do” (bold mine).
Biologist Barry Palevitz, “The supernatural is automatically off-limits as an explanation of the natural world” (bold mine).
Astronomer and physicist Lee Smolin, If the universe started at a point in time, “This leaves the door open for a return of religion. The theory is to be criticized as being unlikely on these grounds”
How in the world can a scientist, someone who says that s/he is dedicated to following the evidence where ever it leads, leave out a whole category of evidence just because it goes against h/her world view?
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